About

Count on our 50+ years of energy management experience to help you

“We bring the ingredients for energy efficiency together to create smart, enduring, value-for-money solutions, while saving you time and energy. We know what works.”

Martin Gummer, Optima Sales Director and founding CEO, EECA (1993-1997)

“Optima is customer driven – utilising data, technology and technical expertise as required – in partnership with our customers. In Latin, optima means ‘best’. We aim to get the best results for our customers, at best value-for-money.”

Tom Bowden, Optima Founder and Chairman

"Many organisations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on energy every year, yet they don't know where that energy goes after the main meter. To start managing this cost, energy use needs to be measured granularly to understand how much is being used, where and when."

Dan Coffey, Optima Advisory Director

Research by international professional services firm Accenture revealed that if 24/7 energy monitoring was discontinued for 12 months, up to 50% of savings made previously were lost.

The Optima team

Tom Bowden, Chairman

E tom@optimaenergy.nz
P +64 21 874 154

Optima’s Chairman is Tom Bowden. Tom has an MBA and extensive entrepreneurial business start-up experience, most recently as CEO and part owner of market-leading health sector IT company HealthLink. Tom and a business partner started HealthLink in 1993 and grew it into a highly successful multi-million dollar business with offices in Auckland and three Australian locations, before selling it two years ago.

Tom is now an investor in several start-up businesses. He is also a conservationist with a practical interest in sustainable energy.

Martin Gummer, Managing Director

E martin@optimaenergy.nz
P +64 27 474 4844

The company’s Managing Director is Martin Gummer. Martin has a 40-year management career spanning the private and public sectors, along with degrees in economics and law. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Martin was an elected member of the Auckland Electric Power Board and involved in energy management at Fletcher Challenge. In 1993 he became the founding CEO of EECA, successfully establishing and leading the organisation through its first four years. From January 2015 until April 2020 Martin was a Business Development Manager at Energy Solution Providers (ESP) and for most of that time its leading sales generator.

While at ESP he spearheaded its entry into the industrial and food processing markets. He also met with hundreds of energy-using businesses and organisations across New Zealand, giving him practical insight into how best to help businesses save energy.

Dan Coffey, Advisory Director

Tom and Martin are assisted by Advisory Director Dan Coffey. Dan is an engineering consultant with 26 years’ experience as a valued adviser on and administrator of energy efficiency measures. Dan is known and respected throughout New Zealand and brings a unique breadth of perspective to Optima.

Recently he was inducted into the Energy and Carbon Professionals (CEP) New Zealand Hall of Fame.

Graeme Burke, Energy Consultant

E graeme@optimaenergy.nz
P +64 22 177 1619

During its start-up phase, Optima is being assisted by Graeme Burke of energy consultancy Energy Veritas. Graeme’s 40+ year career has spanned both the supply and demand side of New Zealand’s energy sector, including time working as an energy auditor. Graeme works part time with Optima on a range of technical, data analysis and reporting activities.

Lisa Chen, Business Support

E lisa@optimaenergy.nz
P +64 22 177 1619

Business support services are provided by Lisa Chen. Lisa provides support for customer service, administration, accounting, project management, and health and safety. She has worked in Business Co-ordinator and Office Manager roles for many years. Lisa works closely with Martin to provide friendly, professional support for each new client’s project.

Our key associates

We augment our own capabilities by drawing on expertise and support through associations with several quality energy sector businesses and organisations.

This consulting and analytics company specialises in energy supply and tariff negotiations, and in ICT-based data analytics.

Total Utilities is the New Zealand distributor for smart, compact Centrica Energy Insights real-time data measurement technology and software. The sensor technology is designed for simple, quick, non-intrusive installation with minimal business disruption and requires no maintenance.

Energy Insights is produced and marketed by Centrica – a major British multinational energy and services company. Centrica’s PowerRadar reporting platform uses Amazon Web Services’ cloud-based platform.

Emsol is a well-established New Zealand specialist engineering energy management consultancy that provides expert advice for industrial, food processing, wood processing, supermarket and institutional customers.

Emsol’s professional engineers include accredited energy auditors and IPMVP Certified Professionals with expertise and experience in advanced energy monitoring and analytics.

Our main products and services generate strong ROIs without EECA funding. Nonetheless we will engage with EECA where and when beneficial to our clients.

We are a bronze member of Carbon and Energy Professionals New Zealand, the industry body for energy management firms and professionals.

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